New York Television Festival Honors New TV Talent, Hands Out Development Deals

The weeklong New York Television Festival wrapped today with Best of the Fest nods shared by The Katering Show, about “a food intolerant and an intolerable foodie” and The Parker Tribe, about a 13-year-old tomboy in a large Irish Catholic family. The latter also won the festival’s Critics Award.

Indie TV artists who’ll receive development deals from the fest’s partners were also announced. Festival partners for those deals are A+E, AMC, Channel 4, Comedy Central, FYI, HISTORY, H2, Lifetime, Starz, truTV, WEtv and Red Arrow Entertainment Group’s Left/Right and Fabrik Entertainment. This was the fourth consecutive year the festival has facilitated at least 20 development deals for independent television artists. Since the first was guaranteed by an NYTVF partner in 2007, more than 125 have been awarded.

The festival, which ran from October 19 through today, featured 103 projects chosen for the Independent Pilot Competition and other initiatives — out of more than 2,000 submissions. Additionally, more than 325 artists were invited to attend the festival and participate in more than 400 networking and pitch meetings with industry executives.

The weeklong event also featured screenings, red carpet premieres, panels and parties that took place at the Helen Mills Theater and Event Space, the SVA Theatre and Tribeca Three-Sixty.

Complete list of winners follows:

2015 Independent Pilot Competition

Best Comedy Pilot: New Partner
Created by Quinn Beswick and Josh Margolin (Los Angeles, CA)
Welcome to the the cursed existence of Ron Robinson, a cop who can’t stop getting his partners killed.

Best Drama or Dramedy Pilot: Riftworld
Created by Jonathan Williams, Andrew Nicholas McCann Smith, and Laura Perlmutter (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
A struggling journalist teams up with a dimension-traveling wizard to help him find his way home.

Best Short-Form Digital Series: The Katering Show
Created by Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
The journey of a food intolerant and an intolerable foodie.

Best Unscripted Pilot: Funny Cause It’s True
Created by Victor Varnado (New York, NY)
A “Mythbusters”-style look at the world of comedy that deconstructs a comedian’s act from the inside out.

Best Actress (Comedy): Becky Yamamoto and Meghan O’Neill for 2 Chans

Best Actor (Comedy): Marshall Stratton and James Coker for The Other Kennedys

Best Actress (Drama or Dramedy): Tiffany Rachelle Stewart for Black Rose

Best Actor (Drama or Dramedy): David Koechner for The Parker Tribe

Best Director: Andrew W. Chan for The Midnight Anthology

Best Editor: Tulica Singh for Croissant Man

Best Writing: Bob Borrmann and Luca Stein for Dead John

NYTVF Critics Award: The Parker Tribe created by Jane Baker (Brattleboro, VT)
Living life in suburban Philadelphia in the late 1970s is both hilarious and painful for Mary “Jo” Parker, a 13-year-old tomboy in a large Irish Catholic family.

NYTVF “Best of the Fest”:
(tie)
The Katering Show created by Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

The Parker Tribe created by Jane Baker (Brattleboro, VT)

Descriptions and trailers for these and all IPC selections can be found here

2015 NYTVF DEVELOPMENT DEALS AND NETWORK AWARD WINNERS

A+E Networks Create 360°
◦ A+E Network: Debbie Isaacs for her project “Win Court” (Las Vegas, Nv)
◦ HISTORY: Bill Herndon for his project “America’s Next Big Franchise” (New York, NY)
◦ Lifetime: Christian Campbell, America Olivo, and Annette Tanner for their project “Broadway Dreams” (New York, NY)
◦ FYI Pitch Award: Colin Hogan and Shawn Bowers (Chicago, IL)
◦ H2 Pitch Award: Steve Sullivan (Chicago, IL)

AMC-Channel 4 Drama Co-Development Award: Tom Moran (Devon, England, UK) for his script “White Rabbit”

Comedy Central Development Award: Marshall Stratton and James Coker for “The Other Kennedys” (New York, NY)

HISTORY Unscripted Development Pipeline: Elena Sorre for her project “Green Rush: Alaska” (New York, NY)
Chosen from five finalists who were awarded development deals earlier this year, this winner will have the opportunity to produce a pilot presentation with NYTVF Productions.

Red Arrow Entertainment and Fabrik Entertainment Development Award: Loren Tarquinio for his project “Mamarazzi” (Los Angeles, CA)

Red Arrow Entertainment and Left/Right Development Award: Micah Sherman for his project “Improvising” (New York, NY)

Starz Rising Talent Award: Andrew W. Chan and Sherman Alan Kew, Jr. for their project “Midnight Anthology” (Los Angeles, CA)

truTV Greenlight Award: Lauren Ludwig and Laura Grey for their project “Ex-Girlfiend” (Los Angeles, CA)
This winner has been selected to develop a project in partnership with truTV and NYTVF Productions.

WEtv Pitch Award: Kyle Blake (Allendale, NJ)

In addition to the above, New York Women in Film and Television awarded a platinum membership to Darya Zhuk in recognition of her work on “The Real American”.

NYTVF award winners and deal recipients also were awarded a post-production package from East Coast Digital, which provides access to free office space and heavily discounted post-production services in New York City for a full year.